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Join us for an unprecedented journey into the heart of game-making t as Pietro Righi Riva, Studio Director at Santa Ragione, peels back the curtain on the creation of 'Saturnalia'. It's a story of resilience, creativity, and the art of course correction in the face of daunting challenges.

From its humble beginnings as Matchbox in 2017 to its eventual release in 2022, Saturnalia underwent a metamorphosis that pushed the boundaries of procedural generation, visual style, and narrative design. Righi Riva will guide us through the labyrinthine process of bringing this unique horror experience to life, including:

  • The artistic journey to capture the essence of Italian 'giallo' horror in a digital medium
  • The technical wizardry behind creating a procedurally generated Sardinian village that feels authentic and terrifying
  • The narrative challenges of weaving multiple character stories into a cohesive, dynamic plot

But this isn't just a tale of triumphs. Righi Riva will candidly discuss the moments of crisis, the feedback that sparked major overhauls, and the difficult decisions made along the way. From reworking navigation systems to reimagining creature encounters, every challenge became an opportunity for innovation.

This postmortem is a rare glimpse into the iterative nature of game development, showcasing how a passionate team can transform setbacks into strengths. Whether you're a seasoned creator, an aspiring creator, or simply curious about game design, this talk promises insights that will reshape your understanding of the craft.

Speakers

Born in Milan in 1985, Pietro Righi Riva is co-founder and studio director at Santa Ragione where he worked on multiple award-winning independent games, such as 'MirrorMoon EP', 'FOTONICA', 'Wheels of Aurelia', and 'Saturnalia'. After achieving a Ph.D in Interaction Design at Politecnico di Milano, Righi Riva has has been a lecturer at Politecnico di Milano, California College of Arts, Shanghai Theater Academy, Tsinghua University, NABA, and IULM among others. His design philosophy is aimed at developing games that are not objective-driven and accessible to non-gamers. For the Triennale Milan museum he has curated the Triennale Game Collection volumes 1 & 2. He won the Innovation in Experience Design Award at IndieCade 2018 for his solo project 'Asta Grande'. Righi Riva lives and works in Milan, Italy.

Generating Giallo Horror: A 'Saturnalia' Post-Mortem

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Join us for an unprecedented journey into the heart of game-making t as Pietro Righi Riva, Studio Director at Santa Ragione, peels back the curtain on the creation of 'Saturnalia'. It's a story of resilience, creativity, and the art of course correction in the face of daunting challenges.

From its humble beginnings as Matchbox in 2017 to its eventual release in 2022, Saturnalia underwent a metamorphosis that pushed the boundaries of procedural generation, visual style, and narrative design. Righi Riva will guide us through the labyrinthine process of bringing this unique horror experience to life, including:

  • The artistic journey to capture the essence of Italian 'giallo' horror in a digital medium
  • The technical wizardry behind creating a procedurally generated Sardinian village that feels authentic and terrifying
  • The narrative challenges of weaving multiple character stories into a cohesive, dynamic plot

But this isn't just a tale of triumphs. Righi Riva will candidly discuss the moments of crisis, the feedback that sparked major overhauls, and the difficult decisions made along the way. From reworking navigation systems to reimagining creature encounters, every challenge became an opportunity for innovation.

This postmortem is a rare glimpse into the iterative nature of game development, showcasing how a passionate team can transform setbacks into strengths. Whether you're a seasoned creator, an aspiring creator, or simply curious about game design, this talk promises insights that will reshape your understanding of the craft.

Speakers

Born in Milan in 1985, Pietro Righi Riva is co-founder and studio director at Santa Ragione where he worked on multiple award-winning independent games, such as 'MirrorMoon EP', 'FOTONICA', 'Wheels of Aurelia', and 'Saturnalia'. After achieving a Ph.D in Interaction Design at Politecnico di Milano, Righi Riva has has been a lecturer at Politecnico di Milano, California College of Arts, Shanghai Theater Academy, Tsinghua University, NABA, and IULM among others. His design philosophy is aimed at developing games that are not objective-driven and accessible to non-gamers. For the Triennale Milan museum he has curated the Triennale Game Collection volumes 1 & 2. He won the Innovation in Experience Design Award at IndieCade 2018 for his solo project 'Asta Grande'. Righi Riva lives and works in Milan, Italy.

Our Approach

Game-Making Practice

It's for everyone! We believe that game design and thinking is not limited to "the video game industry." It's a creative point of view that any discipline can use.

LEARN FROM Doing

Our workshops are focused on activities with a majority of time spent on making things.

this is only the start

You'll grow from here. We hope that this is a stepping stone for you to permanently work with the material of games.

Pay What You Can
Pay What You Can
Pay What You Can